George Caloyannidis | Jul 18, 2016

9111 Report on Blakeley Initiative
Blakeley Initiative Election Resolution - Measure E
Kennedy LTE 7/13/16: We didn't turn Blakeley in to the county, the sheriffs did
NVR 7/18/16: Blakeley Construction to pursue its own ballot measure
NVR 1/31/16: Blakeley Construction must vacate agriculturally zoned land

BOS TESTIMONY ON THE BLAKELEY COUNTY INITIATIVE

Once again we have an example of the damage done to the public by the County's lack of timely enforcement and its acrobatics in trying to rectify its bad practices.

In the Reverie case, the public interest was compromised when the environmental damage from multiple violations and illegal slope grading close to a stream was sanctioned by you moving the CEQA baseline forward.

You justified your acrobatics at the time by invoking a "forgiveness policy", one which as it turned out had been revoked a decade earlier.

Now we have a case where the County knew about a zoning violation and failed to act for over 50 years, once again depriving the public of the protections of the CEQA process by moving its baseline forward as the 2014 court decision enabled it to do.
I am not here today to speak on whether a County sponsored initiative has legal standing or not. My interest is once again how irresponsible and damaging your lack of enforcement is. Napa County continues to be the forgiver, the rewarder, the enabler.

This time the acrobatics you consider involve amnesty to all the violators you failed to control prior to 1969 in order to protect one you happen to favor. To make matters worse, you don't even know who other violators are or what they do. If you knew of them, you should have cited them and if you don't know them, they would be taking a huge risk by coming forward. So, you will never know.

As in the Reverie case, It doesn't matter if the Blakeleys and Kikens of the world are nice people or how many supporters they have because any new zoning or use will run with the land.

When you rewarded Mr. Kiken with millions of additional violation value, he turned around and immediately sold his property to an anonymous corporation. A County sponsored initiative will also reward the Blakeleys with the additional violation value of a rare commercial property in the AG zone. When at one point Mr. Blakeley sells his added value property, we will be back here debating commercial Use Permit applications again and again.

And there is this additional consideration: A County sponsored initiative will place the taxpayer on the hook for the costs of a sweetheart deal. That cost will turn out to be prohibitive because it is certain that in the face of the prior Superior Court settlement, the initiative will be contested. It is not that Mr. Blakely has no alternatives. The system affords Mr. Blakely and his supporters ample opportunity to place the initiative on the ballot and see it through himself.

But to be clear, no matter what the outcome, it will never absolve you from the responsibility of having violated the intent of CEQA and the unmitigated damage to the environment Blakeley's actions have caused.

During the Reverie process, I had contacted the Attorney General's office to make them aware of the County's systemic CEQA process violations. They agreed but invoked lack of resources to pursue it. They advised me to file a lawsuit naming the County as defendant or co-defendant when the opportunity arises.
You may be providing this opportunity today.

Thank you.

copyright © sodacanyonroad.org